h u r r i c a n e ( A x N ) ✔

4. Hurt

Her heart threatened to jump out of her ribcage. The cold metal binding her hand felt like ice. Neil locked his gaze with hers, analysing the transition in her expressions. He noticed beads of sweat forming on her forehead. This was it! She had been nabbed. 

"So Avni, how does it feel, now that your lie has  been caught? What did you think, that I would get fooled by your lies and manipulations?" he harshly said as he brought his face to the same level as hers, his mouth hovering above her earlobe. Avni cringed as her heartbeats rocketed. She felt the temperature increasing as she saw Neil's hands on hem at the top of her blouse. Neil ever so slowly unearthed the faded bullet mark on her chest. Avni turned her face sideways as she panted for air. She shut her eyes and inhaled sharply when Neil brushed his thumb right above her breasts, where the bullet mark resided. 

The feeling of Neil's hand on her for a second made her forget that she had just been arrested and felt that her skin was on fire. Neil's eyes darkened for an instance when he saw her response to his touch, so that meant the tremors his heart felt when he was near her was familiar to her as well. Neil withdrew his hand and tutted," This bullet mark is the biggest proof that you are Avni,". Avni huffed, but refused to speak. She did not want to confess to anything. Neil was alarmed when Avni started coughing violently and muttered in between,"...water..". Neil guessed that she was in dire need of water and he released his grip on her and as soon as he did that, Avni raised her knee and kicked him in the groin' and bolted through the open door right after snatching her phone away. Neil had released the side of the handcuff he was holding.

"Fuck!"Neil cursed as he lamented the intense pain he just felt, damn, she kicked him real hard for someone who had just been drugged and secondly, she dared double-cross him! Neil hit the wall as he was unable to stop her. He would need help over here with this woman. Otherwise, he shivered at the thought of the possible injuries she might inflict upon him. And, he felt stupid for falling in her trap! Neil limped to the sofa and dialed DD's number.

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Avni breathed deeply as she got out of the apartment and was met by Ali. He was concerned when he saw Avni, with her left hand handcuffed. Tears strained her face and she looked like she was having difficulty in walking.

"Avni, what happened to you? I just got to know that Dayawanti has fled away with Aman and I came to tell you of the same but Neela aunty said that you were at Neil's place," Ali said in one go and he held Avni, who did not grasp anything Ali had said and looked emotionally broken. Ali sensed that something was extremely wrong,"Say something, you are scaring me!" he begged, his voice laced with despair. Avni did not react when he told her that Aman had gone somewhere far away, he was cocksure something terrible had taken place.

Avni took some time  to register the day's events: First Neil coaxed her with his sugar-coated words, then he drugged her and tried to get her to blurt out the truth which he already knew about and finally Dayawanti took Aman somewhere far away. As everything seeped in,tears blurred her vision as she looked at Ali who was waiting for her to speak. This was too much for day, heck, this was too much for a few hours! 

"Ali, Neil knows that I am Avn..i," Avni whispered, her voice breaking off at the end, and she waved her hand which was bound by the cuffs, earning her a shock from Ali. "Take me home Ali, I need to find Aman," Avni beseeched and Ali nodded silently. On the ride home, Avni sighed as she wiped away her tears. She wondered whether she was more hurt of the fact that her brother had gone far away or whether Neil had betrayed her, when she had started to trust him. Avni knew that she was in Neil's black list and she regretted kicking him but she had no other alternatives. 'Sorry Neil, but you played unfair,' Avni thought and decided that she would focus on finding Aman, but Neil's betrayal left her broken. 

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